30 September 2008
Zareer at the Press Briefing tonight
MALE, Maldives – Minister of Education Zahiya Zareer has said in a Press Briefing at Maumoon 2008 Media Office that the educational promises of the ruling Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s Presidential manifesto are easily achievable.
Citing the successful milestone achievements in the country’s education sector, such as 98% literacy rate and primary education opportunity for each and every Maldivian, she further stated she is confident of the achievement of the targets in the manifesto.
Secondary Education
Secondary education for all students is one of the most important educational promises in the manifesto.
Zareer further noted, currently only 17 islands do not have secondary education facilities and it was due the population size of those islands.
She also said, the government is now providing incentives for the students in these islands to transfer to other islands to pursue secondary education. For those students, free accommodation and allowances are some of the incentives she added.
DRP’s Presidential manifesto promises secondary education opportunity for all Maldivian students by 2010.
Challenging
Zareer told the press that government is doing everything possible to ensure education for children with special needs.
She also pointed that the goal, though challenging, is achieving at a satisfactory rate.
At the moment, the government has provided special education in 5 atolls.
The challenge for special education facility according to the education minister was due to insufficient human resources.
She also affirmed that training teachers for special education is already underway and will be increased in a DRP government.
Other Promises
The DRP Presidential manifesto promises the incorporation of Maldivian nationalism and civic education into the national curriculum as well as a bill on education in to raise the standards and quality of education.
In addition, providing opportunities for studying another language besides Dhivehi and English, making every student computer-literate, training 500 teachers annually are some of the other promises in the manifesto.
Bhutan
Answering to a question from a reporter after her brief regarding the comments by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the running mate of Independent Presidential candidate Dr. Hassan Saeed, that even Bhutan has all trained teachers while the percentage of that in Maldives are 40, she said our progress in training teachers is satisfactory.
Further she said Bhutan has its own problems of providing education to all due to its mountainous topography. But, she said based on the UNICEF projects in which she was involved in, Maldives education sector has progressed remarkably.
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